Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an email subscription for our weekly Comcast roundup or other news updates.

DEFINITE READS

• Disney, Comcast And Why TV Everywhere Alone Is Not Enough [paidContent]
• Comcast-Disney Pact Signals More Deals Aimed at Fighting Netflix [Bloomberg]
• Comcast, AstraZeneca in coalition to control health benefits spending [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Comcast Completes DNSSEC Deployment [Comcast Voices] — “I am pleased to announce that Comcast, the largest ISP in the U.S., is the first large ISP in the North America to have fully implemented Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC),” which precipitated the end of its domain helper program. Then TechDirt does the important deed of tying this to its support of SOPA.

MIGHT BE INTERESTING

• AnyPlay Brings Live TV to the Tablet [Comcast Voices] — Read more from CNet here.
• Comcast’s new set-top streams live TV to DLNA devices [Gigaom]
• Comcast CFO: NBCUniversal Must Address Profit Drop at Film Studio [Hollywood Reporter]
• Comcast lights up AnyPlay for in-home live TV iPad streaming, Xoom support ‘coming soon’ [Engadget]
• Universal Sports Transitions From Multicast Distribution, Inking Deals with Six Providers [Multichannel News] — “Comcast’s NBC Sports Group owns a minority stake in Universal Sports,” says Philly Tech News.
• Today’s Cable Guy, Upgraded and Better-Dressed [New York Times] — “The cable guy is becoming sleeker and more sophisticated, just like the televisions and computers he installs. “
• Comcast, Others Beware: Traditional TV Viewing Plummeting, Says Survey [V2M] — “An annual survey from Accenture found that the percentage of consumers watching broadcast or cable television in a typical week on the boob tube has plummeted from 71 percent in 2009 to just 48 percent last year. “

GIVE A GLANCE

• Dish Network Reaches Deal to Distribute Univision Programming [Media Decoder: New York Times] — Noting that Dish competitor Comcast has amped up its Spanish-language programming through its Telemundo subsidiary
• Comcast Cable hires multicultural services manager [Philadelphia Business Journal] — “Comcast Cable said Thursday that Ruben Mendiola has joined it as vice president and general manager of multicultural services.”
• Winter Classic 2012 Ratings Are The Worst In Event’s History [SB Nation]
• Comcast coughs up refunds, revelations of service fee [WTOP] — In Montgomery County, Maryland
• Philly Tech News: 2011 Highlights [Philly Tech News] — Highlighting the Comcast NBC merger finalization and its sale of spectrum to Verizon
• CES: Comcast To Speed Up Tru2way Set-Tops With Myriad’s Java Software Swiss Software Developer to Integrate JVM Into MSO’s Device Reference Design Kit [Multichannel News]
• Comcast ‘Completes’ Docsis 3.0 Rollout (Light Reading Cable)

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscri ption for our Comcast news updates.

• MSNBC aims for the gap [Inquirer] — MSNBC employees, including host Chris Matthews, seem to think Comcast ‘has a plan.’
• TV Everywhere Starts Getting Somewhere [Light Reading] — “The battle lines on TV Everywhere content rights are still being drawn by MSOs and programmers, but the authentication systems that will make those services easier for consumers to access and help the category achieve some scale before industry-wide standards are adopted are finally starting to take shape.”
• NBCU International Loses Top Exec in Comcast Reshuffling [The Wrap] — ” Roma Khanna, a top executive for NBC Universal International, is stepping down in the management shakeup that installs Jeff Shell as NBCU International’s president.”
• Local Dwarf Couple Sues E!, Comcast [Fox 29] — A Collingswood, N.J. couple is suing Comcast, E! and Talk Soup host Joel McHale for what they allege are inappropriate comments. [Not sure what's the appropriate term here.]
• Mnet Inks Carriage Deal With Comcast [Multichannel News] — “Asian-themed entertainment network Mnet has reached a carriage deal with Comcast that will give the upstart channel digital basic carriage in several major Comcast systems.”
• Comcast Beefs Up Customer Service [The Street]

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get ane-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

• Comcast Posts 7% Increase in Revenue [New York Times]
• New NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke: NBC Network Turnaround Will Take Years [Hollywood Reporter]
• Update: McDowell: Deal Desperation Fueled Comcast Acquiescence to Net Rules [Multichannel News] — “Republican FCC commissioner Robert McDowell said Wednesday that Comcast told him the reason it agreed to voluntarily abide by the FCC’s network neutrality rules whether or not they were overturned by the courts was because it was desperate to get the deal approved.”
• Is TV Everywhere Working For Comcast? [Gigaom] — “Comcast had some good news for investors this morning, with news that the number of subscribers lost to pay TV competitors and online-only services had slowed dramatically in the fourth quarter. Could Comcast’s slower subscriber losses be evidence that its TV Everywhere initiative might actually be working?” H/T Philly Tech News
• Comcast, Time Warner join IPv6 test program [Cnet]

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

DEFINITE READS

• Comcast Chief Roberts Urges FCC Members to Approve NBC Purchase [Bloomberg] — “Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts asked two Federal Communications Commission members for the agency’s prompt approval of the cable company’s purchase of NBC Universal, according to a filing. “
• Comcast’s live TV iPad app is running into resistance from cable networks [ZDNet] — “TV Everywhere is looking like it’s getting stuck at home. Comcast’s Xfinity TV app, which the cable giant promised would bring live programming and video on-demand choices to iPads and Android tablets later this year, has run afoul of cable networks that don’t think Comcast has the right to deliver its shows to these new devices.”

MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

• Comcast, NBC round up Hill support [Politico]
• More Legislators Push for Comcast/NBCU [Broadcast and Cable] — “Add seven more congressfolk to the list of those who have written the FCC to ask it to approve the Comcast/NBCU deal expeditiously.”
• FCC May Force Comcast to Unbundle Modems [Light Reading] — As part of NBC deal regulatory concessions.
• Comcast cuts cost of entry-level cable package 25 percent [Inquirer]
• Comcast, library offering digital glimpse of JFK [Boston Globe]
• Voices Weigh in as FCC Nears Vote on Comcast-NBC Universal Venture [Comcast blog] — David L. Cohen writes
• Comcast-NBC merger expected to have net neutrality conditions [Post Tech: Washington Post]

WORTH NOTING

• Comcast’s Gilford Jumps To ABC As SVP, Digital Media [paidContent]
• The Buzz from CES 2011 – Trends to Watch [Comcast blog] — Perspective on the major Las Vegas event.

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

DEFINITE READS

• Burke to lead NBC Universal after Comcast deal [paidContent] — 52-year-old Comcast COO Stephen Burke will be made NBC Universal CEO after the acquisition is approved. Burke recently made the most expensive rowhome purchase in Philadelphia history.
• Stepping Down, NBC Chief Relishes His Long Tenure [New York Times] — Embattled NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker announces leaving his post, acknowledging the decision is not entirely his own, but part of a desire by Comcast leadership to have “their own team in place” with the close of the Comcast-NBC acquisition.
• Comcast Spends Big in Pressing for Merger [New York Times] — The piece questions whether the tens of millions of dollars that Comcast is spending on lobbying for regulatory approval of its taking a majority stake in NBC is an expensive form of machine politics or something more democratic.

Below, more details on the NBC executive shuffle, Comcast.net hackers sentenced and more.

MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

• Exclusive: Comcast Reshuffles Its Digital Deck Before NBC Comes Aboard [Media Memo] All Things Digital dives deeper into the moves at NBC, a story revisited by the New York Post with an pretty bad pun for a lede.
• NBC Universal-Comcast prep Olympic bid [Hollywood Reporter]
• Hackers who disrupted Comcast.net site sentenced [Philly Biz Journal] — Two of three hackers who redirected Comcast.net in May 2008 were charged with 18 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of nearly $90,000.

GIVE A GLANCE

• Zucker: Comcast Integration Top Priority [Multichannel News] — Before getting canned, NBCU head Jeff Zucker talked about integrating its programming into Comcast.
• Comcast Tees Up TV Everywhere Relaunch [Light Reading] Hoping for an October launch. H/T PTN
• Stocks soar Friday: How Phila.-area companies fared [Philadelphia Business Journal] Comcast stock jumped on Friday 3.62 percent to $17.48 a share.

When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST

Updated 7/15/10 @ 2:37 p.m.: WiMax product reporting

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

DEFINITE READS

• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the European Commission has approved the Comcast-NBC Universal deal.
• Broadcasting and Cable reports that at this week’s Comcast-NBC deal public hearing in Chicago the focus turned to the deal’s potential impact on the future of online video. H/T Philly Tech News
• The Washington Post adds to the storyline of online video playing into the Comcast-NBC regulatory process, all after the Inquirer set the table on what the impact of the hearing was meant to be.

Below, get your $16, TV Everywhere is called ‘all hype’ and more.

• Multichannel News reports that Comcast’s internal surveying shows increases in its customer service approval ratings, just around the time that a ComputerWorld blogger shares his “tech support nightmare” with Comcast and cites it as evidence of wholesale incompetence.
• Ars Technica reports that Comcast subscribers from April 1, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2008 who used various peer-to-peer sharing networks can receive $16 in repayment.

MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

• The Comcast corporate blog shares its take on the Chicago public hearing, in addition to highlighting who the company says benefits from its acquisition of NBC.
• Silicon Alley Insider reports that TV Everywhere is ‘all hype’ because Comcast is supplementing its free video streaming service by raising its rates on other services.
• The Washington Post highlights some of the major conditions outlined for the Comcast-NBC deal to be approved.

GIVE A GLANCE

• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that Comcast has unleashed its top tier 100 megabits per second download internet service in Philadelphia, after rolling out the service in the Twin Cities. Light Reading adds to the story and its context by reporting on another improved product roll out, “High-Speed 2 Go WiMax product.”
• The Comcast corporate blog also has a general item on its take on public hearings.

When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

• The Washington Post reports that the Justice Department will begin an antitrust review of the Comcast-NBC merger.
• The Post also reports that a Senate Judiciary subcommittee and a host of other House and Senate panels want to review the deal.
• The Silicon Alley Insider reports that Comcast is in talks to carry ESPN’s announced 3d sports channel.

Below, the power of Comcast’s top attorney, the Tennis Channel is pissed and More.

• The Inquirer profiles Art Block, Comcast’s chief counsel, and his role in choosing outside law firms.
• The New York Times reports that the Tennis Channel has filed a complaint with the FCC accusing Comcast of unfairly keeping it on a higher sports tier than Comcast-owned Golf Channel and Versus, making those channels more widely accessible. The Times also covers the always growing costs of cable TV and how the Comcast-NBC merger might come into play. The Times additionally reports on another decade that may focus on the convergence of media, citing the Comcast-NBC merger.
• The Washington Post additionally reports that a collection of public interest groups have called for federal investigation into the industry-wide concept of TV Everywhere, in which cable broadcasters will offer streaming video to only paid subscribers.

When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

The Inqy’s DiStefano reports that Comcast submitted data yesterday to the federal government suggesting some proposals for broadband stimulus would duplicate its services and effectively subsidize competitors. The Daily Herald adds that the company says that may make those proposals ineligible. Relatedly, a series of Philadelphia proposals for that pot of money came up short.

New York Times media columnist David Carr suggests Comcast’s “likely” bid to buy a majority stake in NBC Universal is foolhardy. If it were to get through, the Inquirer’s Joe DiStefano writes on the undercurrent conversation about whether the federal government would even allow the deal to happen.

After the jump, the latest in net neutrality, video online news and ten other Comcast links to see, including video of Brian Roberts at the Web 2.0 summit.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

Washington Post reports that FCC has moved ahead with its net neutrality rule-making with a unanimous vote. PC Mag reports that Comcast is still calling such actions taken by the FCC to be unlawful. Last week, Comcast vice president David Cohen took to the company’s corporate blog to give their take on the tussle with the FCC.

Forbes reports that Comcast is seeking local ad dollars through an interactive TV version of the Yellow Pages.

The Philadelphia Business Journal’s Peter Key reports that Comcast’s trial of On Demand Online has increased its customer group.

Read Write Web says Comcast is sizing up to compete with Hulu and suggest that’s a mistake.

Silicon Alley Insider lists “eight things you should know about TV Everywhere,” the industry-wide, online streaming TV service for subscribes in which Comcast is playing a role.

GIVE A GLANCE

Cable Digital News says Comcast is beefing up its interactive TV platform, leading to such content making its way on as many as 50 networks by the end of next year. Light Reading reports that Comcast COO Steve Burke says advertisers can be coaxed into loving interactive advertising with the comfort of a big national network.

Broadband DSL Reports writes that Comcast and Verizon are still bickering about who carries the most HD channels. H/T Philly Tech News.

A joint press release announces that Comcast, Sprint and Clearwire are moving 4G into Chicago and Seattle, in addition to Philadelphia, as we previously reported.

Multichanel News reports that Comcast is deploying a spammer-monitoring system to seek them out before they grow in their attacks.

Last week, we reported that Comcast CEO Brian Roberts had a much trumpeted conversation with John Battelle at the Web 2.0 Summit ’09 in San Francisco. The company’s corporate blog shared the 43-minute video, which you can see below, in addition to giving a nice summary.

When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST

Every Thursday morning, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription to our Comcast news updates.

Net neutrality and Comcast’s role in that debate’s recent-most incarnation dominated mentions of the telecommunications giant this week.

The Federal Communications Commission will keep Comcast and others from limiting user Web traffic, according to sources of the Washington Post, which owned the coverage and suspected that decision as early as last week.

But the FCC’s call that they have the authority to rule that ISPs like Comcast cannot create user limitations is muddy, considering other recent actions from the bipartisan governing body, as Wired magazine reported. The pushback came from Comcast, by way of an open-letter written by company executive vice president David L. Cohen, as reported by the Inquirer.

CNet reported on growing House support for a net neutrality bill. MacWorld talked on just how quickly you could breeze through Comcast’s monthly 250-gb limit (H/T Philly Tech News).

We’ve said before that you know the Comcast story is big when Joey Sweeney gets in on it.

After the jump, Comcast raises prices “because it can,” Hulu trades business ideas and seven other Comcast news items for your perusing.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

• Adage reports that Comcast is rolling out Fancast commercials that seem to headed straight for Hulu’s market: online-streaming TV. And in a complete reversal, Hulu seems to trying Comcast’s angle, by beta-testing a subscription model, according to Business Insider.
• Multichannel News goes deeper into Comcast’s proposed subscription-based TV Everywhere schema, noting that while it intends to be the first big jump into bringing online viewers into paying for a core business, it hasn’t solved the question of which element of the cable industry really owns access to those viewers.
• The Inquirer’s Joey DiStefano reports that Comcast and Sunoco are among the 25 largest companies that could be acquired because of high cash yield and low debt holdings, according to one of these reports that are released to much fanfare and no actual action.
• Joey D also reports on an analyst’s report that Comcast keeps raising prices “because it can or because it thinks it can.”

GIVE A GLANCE

• DSL Reports gives some resident reporting on the status of the DOCSIS 30 rollout in Denver.
• Gizmodo reports that T-Mobile is rolling out a 21 mbs, 3g service in Philadelphia. As we linked last week, baseless speculation has pitted Comcast against T-Mobile in a thus-far fictitious angle on buying up Sprint.
• The Examiner wonders where is the Big Ten Network in HD, weeks into the college football season. After my alma mater Temple got handed another loss to Penn State, I’m not sure I care.
• The Washington Post on Comcast’s digital transition and handling it without a box.

When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there to fill your every Comcast desire or fantasy.

Every Thursday morning, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup.

Comcast’s TV Everywhere, the subscription-required streaming TV Web site that has seen collaboration from a host of big name content providers in recent months, is near enough to completion for ZDNet to report that it will be released on a limited basis in the next 30 to 60 days. Inquire business columnist Joe DiStefano brings to light an MSNBC story suggesting that online video competitor Hulu could be a natural partner to bolster the business, while others say the site should go it alone and charge for content.

After the jump, a Wharton professor calls Comcast a “small player,” the company seeks to acquire content creators and five other stories about the ‘Cast.

• The Inquirer’s DiStefano also reports on analysis from Wharton marketing professor Peter S. Fader, who says fears over a Comcast monopoly or other power grabs from the telecommunications giant are overplayed, calling the MSO “a fairly small player.”
• Hunting for a hint about a big purchase, Bloomberg News reports that Comcast’s COO said the company would consider buying another cable operator for a “good price,” which is about as much as an obvious lede as any credible journalist can get away with. H/T Philly Tech News
• The Wall Street Journal adds to news from the conference call COO Stephen Burke had with investors, quoting Burke as saying they are looking mostly to bolster their content creation business.
• Multichannel News reports that Minneapolis and St. Paul will see a 100-mbps commercial-tier Internet service from Comcast. That is the company’s “fastest ever high-speed Internet service,” according to an e-mail to Technically Philly from Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas, noting that, while, yes, it’s beginning in the Twin Cities as a trial, the service will spread market by market thereafter.
• Broadband DSL Reports notes that rate hike season is upon us and Comcast is no exception. Washington state users are up first.

When there is just too much Comcast news to follow, the Comcast Roundup will be there to fill your every Comcast desire or fantasy.